Jake’s Take: One Image from The Man with the Golden Gun (Guy Hamilton, 1974)
What better image to focus on than that which gives the film its title?
“I could have shot you down when you landed, but that would have been ridiculously easy. You see, Mr. Bond, like every great artist I want to create an indisputable masterpiece once in my lifetime. The death of 007, mano a mano, face to face, will be mine.”
I’ll not mince words, The Man with the Golden Gun is my least favorite film of the series (the official films, anyway). Based on one of Fleming’s weaker—and posthumously completed—novels, the film is plodding throughout, with ineffectual supporting characters and a host of cringe-worthy moments. And while we’re on the subject of the ineffectual and the cringe-worthy, Clifton James is back as Sheriff J.W. Pepper. (It’s one thing for John McClain to get into adventures when he’s on vacation, but, seriously THIS GUY?) Roger Moore still doesn’t seem fully comfortable in the role yet. Maud Adams has great screen presence as Andrea Anders but little agency—something that would be rectified less than 10 years later—and Britt Ekland’s Mary Goodnight is little more than a source of comic relief.
Yet, anytime I discuss this film with its supporters, they will invariably argue for the film from one strong point: the man with the golden gun himself, Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga. Seen here in the shadows about to assassinate someone, much as Bond has done in earlier films and will do in later ones. Scaramanga rises above the narrative dross here for two reasons.
First, Christopher Lee was a magnificent actor. His physical presence and superbly calculated movement, his booming voice, and his intense stare were more than well suited to bring a Bond villain to life. If someone were to make the claim that Scaramanga was one of the greatest of the Bond villains, I might not agree, but I probably wouldn’t argue. He is, after all, mesmerizing in every one of his scenes.
The reason I wouldn’t argue is the second reason Scaramanga is the film’s strength: he is quite unlike any other villain in the series. He is a freelance, amoral version of Bond, whose interest is far less in conquering the world or wreaking havoc upon its economy, and far more in testing his mettle against 007. The villainous mirror of Bond is something we’ll see later with Silva in Skyfall, who himself is a sort of synthesis of Scaramanga and Alec Trevelyan. There is a key difference, though. Silva barely cares about Bond; Bond is a means to an end—so that he can wreak vengeance upon M. On the other hand, Scaramanga cares almost exclusively about Bond, as the quote above certainly confirms. Sure, the film is also about a game-changing solar device that could rescue the world from its energy crisis (there’s that timely relevance again), but both the script and Lee’s performance always makes it seem like that is an afterthought, part of the villainous motions he has to go through to engage with Bond.
In every sense, “the man with the golden gun” is an exceptional villain. It’s just too bad that the rest of the film doesn’t live up to him.
Rankings
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
5. From Russia with Love
7. Thunderball
9. Goldfinger
10. Dr. No
17. You Only Live Twice
20. Live and Let Die
22. Diamonds Are Forever
23. The Man with the Golden Gun
JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.